The 2022 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to be the 22nd FIFA World Cup, an international football tournament, to take place in Qatar in 2022. Qatar would be the first Arab country to host the World Cup and this would be the first time the World Cup would be held in the Middle East region. The format has not been announced, but under the current format, the tournament would involve 32 national teams, including the host nation.

Instead of being held in the traditional World Cup period of June and July, the tournament is scheduled to be held in late November. It is to be played in a reduced timeframe of around 28 days, with the final being held on 18 December 2022, which is also Qatar National Day.[1]

Accusations of corruption have been made relating to how Qatar won the right to host the event. FIFA completed a lengthy investigation into these allegations and a report cleared Qatar of any wrongdoing, but the chief investigator Michael Garcia has since described FIFA's report on his inquiry as "materially incomplete and erroneous."[2] On May 27, 2015, Swiss federal prosecutors opened an investigation into corruption and money laundering related to the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.[3][4]

On 7 June 2015, it was announced that Qatar would possibly no longer be eligible to host the event, if evidence of bribery was proven. According to Domenico Scala, the head of FIFA's Audit And Compliance Committee: "Should there be evidence that the awards to Qatar and Russia came only because of bought votes, then the awards could be cancelled."[5][6]

The bidding procedure to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups began in January 2009, and national associations had until 2 February 2009 to register their interest.[7] Initially, eleven bids were made for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but Mexico later withdrew from proceedings,[8][9] and Indonesia's bid was rejected by FIFA in February 2010 after the Indonesian Football Association failed to submit a letter of Indonesian government guarantee to support the bid.[10] Indonesian officials had not ruled out a bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, until Qatar took the 2022 cup. During the bidding process, all non-UEFA nations gradually withdrew from the 2018 bids, thus making the UEFA nations ineligible for the 2022 bid.

In the end, there were five bids for the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea and the United States. The twenty-two member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments.[11] Two FIFA executive committee members were suspended before the vote in relation to allegations of corruption regarding their votes.[12] The decision to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which was graded as having "high operational risk",[13] generated criticism from media commentators, LGBT rights groups and American, Australian and English officials.[clarification needed][14]

There have been allegations of bribery and corruption in the selection process involving members of FIFA's executive committee. These allegations are being investigated by FIFA. (See § Bidding corruption allegations, below.)

Qatar is the smallest nation by area ever to have been awarded a FIFA World Cup – the next smallest by area is Switzerland, host of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, which is more than three times as large as Qatar and only needed to host 16 teams instead of the current 32. On current population, Qatar would be the smallest host country by population – Uruguay had a population of 1.9 million when it hosted the 1930 World Cup,[16] more than Qatar's 2013 population of 1.7 million.[17] However, the Qatar Statistical Authority predicts that the total population of Qatar could reach 2.8 million by 2020.

The qualification process for the 2022 World Cup has not yet been announced. All FIFA member associations, of which there are currently 209,[18] are eligible to enter qualification. Qatar, as hosts, qualified automatically for the tournament.

The allocation of slots for each confederation was discussed by the FIFA Executive Committee on 30 May 2015 in Zürich after the FIFA Congress.[19] It was decided that the same allocation as 2014 would be kept for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.[20]

^A Qatar may still qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. If they do, they will appear in the World Cup for the first time in 2018 and for the second time in 2022. Otherwise, they will make their debut appearance in 2022.

The first five proposed venues for the World Cup were unveiled at the beginning of March 2010. The stadiums aim to employ cooling technology capable of reducing temperatures within the stadium by up to 20 °C (36 °F), and the upper tiers of the stadiums will be disassembled after the World Cup and donated to countries with less developed sports infrastructure.[21] All of the five stadium projects launched have been designed by German architect Albert Speer & Partners.[22] Leading football clubs in Europe wanted the World Cup to take place from 28 April to 29 May rather than the typical June and July staging, due to concerns about the heat.[23]

According to a report released in April 2013 by Merrill Lynch, the investment banking division of Bank of America, the organizers in Qatar have requested FIFA to approve a smaller number of stadiums due to the growing costs.[27]Bloomberg.com said that Qatar wishes to cut the number of venues to 8 or 9 from the 12 originally planned.[28]

A number of groups and media outlets have expressed concern over the suitability of Qatar to host the event,[29][30] with regard to interpretations of human rights, particularly worker conditions, the rights of fans in the LGBT community,[30][31][32] climatic conditions and accusations of Qatar for supporting terrorism both diplomatically and financially.[33]

The selection of Qatar as the host country has been controversial; FIFA officials were accused of corruption and allowing Qatar to "buy" the World Cup,[34] the treatment of construction workers was called into question by human rights groups,[35] and the high costs needed to make the plans reality were criticised. The climate conditions caused some to call hosting the tournament in Qatar infeasible, with initial plans for air-conditioned stadiums giving way to a potential date switch from summer to winter. FIFA president Sepp Blatter later remarked that awarding the World Cup to Qatar was a "mistake" because of the extreme heat.[36][37]

Sports Illustrated reported on 18 February 2015 that the event will be staged from mid-November to mid-December.[38] Owing to the climate in Qatar, concerns have been expressed since the bid was made about holding the event during the traditional months for the World Cup finals of June and July. In October 2013, a task force was commissioned to consider alternative dates and report after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.[39] On 24 February 2015, the FIFA Task Force proposed that the tournament be played from late November to late December 2022,[40] to avoid the summer heat between May and September, and also avoid clashing with the 2022 Winter Olympics in February and Ramadan in April.[41]

The notion of staging the tournament in winter is controversial since it would interfere with the regular season schedules of domestic leagues around the world. Commentators have noted the clash with the Christmas season is likely to cause disruption, whilst there is concern about how short the tournament is intended to be.[42] It would also force the postponement of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations from January to June to prevent African players from having a quick turnaround. FIFA executive committee member Theo Zwanziger said that awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar's desert state was a "blatant mistake".[43]Frank Lowy, chairman of Football Federation Australia, said that if the 2022 World Cup were moved to winter and thus upset the schedule of the A-League, they would seek compensation from FIFA.[44] Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League, stated that they would consider legal action against FIFA because a move would interfere with the Premier League's popular Christmas and New Year fixture programme.[45] On 19 March 2015, FIFA sources confirmed that the 2022 World Cup final would be played on Sunday 18 December, one week before Christmas.[46]

The issue of migrant workers' rights has also attracted attention, with an investigation by The Guardian newspaper claiming that many workers are denied food and water, have their identity papers taken away from them, and that they are not paid on time or at all, making some of them in effect slaves. The Guardian has estimated that up to 4,000 workers may die due to lax safety and other causes by the time the competition is held.[35] These claims are based upon the fact that 522 Nepalese[47] workers and over 700 Indian[48] workers have died since 2010, when Qatar's bid as World Cup's host was won. That's about 250 Indian workers dying each year.[49] Given that there are half a million Indian workers in Qatar, the Indian government says that is quite a normal number of deaths.[49] In the United Kingdom, in any group of half a million 25–30-year-old men, an average of 300 die each year, a higher rate than among Indian workers in Qatar.[49]

In 2015 a crew of 4 journalists from the BBC were arrested and held for two days after they attempted to report on the condition of workers in the country.[50] The reporters had been invited to visit the country as guests of the Qatari government.[50]

The Wall Street Journal reported in June 2015 the International Trade Union Confederation's claim that over 1,200 workers had died while working on infrastructure and real-estate projects related to the World Cup, and the Qatar government's counter-claim that no-one had.[51] The BBC reports that this often-cited figure of 1,200 workers that supposedly died in World Cup construction in Qatar between 2011 and 2013, is not correct, and that the 1,200 number is instead representing deaths from all Indians and Nepalese working in Qatar, not just of those workers involved in the preparation for the World Cup, and not just of construction workers.[49]

Qatar has faced growing pressure over its hosting of the World Cup in relation to allegations over the role of former top football official Mohammed bin Hammam played in securing the bid.[52]

A former employee of the Qatar bid team alleged[year needed] that several African officials were paid $1.5m by Qatar.[53] She retracted her claims, but later said she was coerced to do so by Qatari bid officials.[54][55] More suspicions emerged in March 2014 when it was discovered that disgraced former CONCACAF president Jack Warner and his family were paid almost $2 million from a firm linked to Qatar's successful campaign. The FBI is investigating Warner and his alleged links to the Qatari bid.[56]

Four of FIFA's six primary sponsors, Sony, Adidas, Visa and Coca-Cola, have called upon FIFA to investigate the claims.[57][58]The Sunday Times published bribery allegations based on a leak of millions of secret documents.[59] FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce has gone on record stating he would support a re-vote to find a new host if the corruption allegations are proven.[60][61] FIFA completed a lengthy investigation into these allegations and a report cleared Qatar of any wrongdoing.

Despite the claims, the Qataris insist that the corruption allegations are being driven by envy and mistrust while Sepp Blatter said it is fueled by racism in the British media.[62][63]

In the 2015 FIFA corruption case, Swiss officials, operating under information from the United States Department of Justice, arrested many senior FIFA officials in Zurich, Switzerland. They also seized physical and electronic records from FIFA's main headquarters. The arrests continued in the United States where several FIFA officers were arrested and FIFA buildings raided. The arrests were made on the information of at least a $150 million (USD) corruption and bribery scandal.[64]

On 7 June 2015, Phaedra Almajid, the former media officer for the Qatar bid team claimed that the allegations would result in Qatar not hosting the World Cup.[65] In an interview published on the same day, Domenico Scala, the head of FIFA's Audit And Compliance Committee, stated that "should there be evidence that the awards to Qatar and Russia came only because of bought votes, then the awards could be cancelled."[66][67]